Srt (saguna rice technolgy)

Saguna Rice Technique is a unique new method of cultivation the rice and related rotation crops without ploughing, puddling and transplanting (rice) on permanent raised beds. This is a zero till, Conservation Agriculture (CA) type of cultivation method evolved at Saguna Baug, Neral, Dist. Raigad, Maharashtra, India

1. SRT ( Saguna Rice Technolgy ) Sunil Bhardwaj Division of Agronomy PhD Scholar

2. SRT Saguna Rice Technique  is a unique new method of cultivation the rice and related rotation crops without ploughing, puddling and transplanting (rice) on permanent raised beds. This is a zero till, Conservation Agriculture (CA) type of cultivation method evolved at Saguna Baug , Neral , Dist. Raigad, Maharashtra, India What’s so special about SRT? The permanent raised beds used in this method facilitates ample of oxygen supply to root zone area while maintaining optimum moisture condition there. The great farmer of Kolhapur  Shri. Pratap Chiplunkar said “Stop Ploughing!”  We made suitable changes in the conventional rice cultivation to ease farmers’ laborious work and to prevent fertility loss during puddling.

3. The SRT iron forma(the tool will be better soon) facilitates planting of crop in predetermined distances enabling precise plant population per unit area. Absence of puddling and transplanting of rice makes it possible for  “Not dependent on erratic behavior of rain.”  This means  ‘No more waiting for Rain God to shower just optimum rain for best transplanting operation’.  Similarly if rain vanishes for few days during crop season it doesn’t lead to cracking of land or ‘crop kill’ immediately. PREPARATION OF BEDS till the soil and make the raised beds only once same permanent beds will be used again and again to grow various rotation crops after rice in Kharif season. Good ploughing and tilling can be done with available residual moisture or by giving irrigation. Add desirable and / or available quantity of any organic manure. Finally till it with rotavator or power tiller to make it workable. Draw parallel lines with help of rope and lime or wood ash at 136 cm i.e 4.5 feet apart . Use tractor drawn ‘Bed maker’ or any other means to open furrows at marked lines and make raised beds.

4. Make depressions / holes with SRT iron forma on the raised beds. Sow / dibble 2 seeds Its very important to leave the roots of previous crop in to soil and spray the plot with Glyphoset  (15 lit water + 100 ml Glyphoset + 50 g of Urea) 3 to 4 days after harvesting the crop . Same raised beds are to be used again without any ploughing or puddling or transplanting for next Kharif rice crop.

5. SEED SOWING  –  Approximately 3–4 days before rain begins, make holes on beds by SRT iron forma and put 3 to 4 treated rice seeds in each hole, press it with mixture of manure or good soil ( 10 Kg. manure and 400 g. Suphala ) GAP FILLING  – At about 4 leaf stage carryout gap filling by using extra seedlings from nearby hills . FERTILIZING   – Between 25 to 30 days carryout manual weeding without walking on beds and press a Urea (DAP) briquetes or one tea spoonful of Suphala in between 4 hills / plants.

6. FARM CARE  – Soon the plots will start looking very nice. We need to pay attention for control of crabs (press Gliricidia leaves in holes & plug with mud), clean bunds, water levels in the plots and so on. ADVANTAGES For Farmers no puddling, transplanting and hand hoeing ,we save  50% water ,  40% cost of production  & not requiring transplanting saves  50% treacherous labour . For Soil SRT insists  keeping of roots of previous crop in the raised bed . The capillaries formed by dead dry roots and earthworm pathways facilitate quick draining of rainwater resulting in effective recharging of Aquifers. Loss of valuable silt (about 20%) during puddling can be prevented thus  more fertile land  can be handed over to next generation. A good number of earthworms are noticed  on SRT beds during high rainfall days attracting unusual birds to SRT plots. This magic is due to suppressing all green growth with glayphoset , which decays and becomes instant food for the worms. Also ‘No-Till’ prevents destruction of E’worms life. Thus SRT proves to be  Eco-friendly Farming . This is big positive gain.

7. The  root network prevents soil from cracking  and makes it  more spongy . The same roots become valuable source of organic carbon which is uniformly distributed and oxygen pathways to root zone of next crop. For Crop Leaves of rice plants on SRT beds seem to be more broader and head more upwards to sunlight Rice crop gets ready 8–10 days earlier . Also it saves time required for soil tilling between two crops. This leaves valuable 10–15 days of crop season for the farmer enabling him to take  more than one crop in the same plot  in a year.   Traumatic shock  caused to the rice seedlings during transplanting is avoided For  Environment Reduce diesel consumption , reduce emission of CO2 over thousands of acres of paddy cultivation and methane production also …..   dose of fertilizer can be brought down prevent compaction & formation of hard pan of lower strata of soil

8. Thank you